Are you an Orthodox Christian student at the University of California, Merced? Or, are you interested in the historic Christian Faith and Church? We are seeking to form a student group on campus that brings together not only Orthodox students, but also those interested in the ancient Christian Church -- its teachings and life.

OCF is the official college campus ministry of the Orthodox Church. It is a cooperative effort from all Orthodox jurisdictions to spread the word of Christ to the campus. OCF chapters are comprised of students within a college or university who meet for fellowship, worship, spiritual growth, and mission.

The following link is to a .pdf file copy of two essays on the subject of "the use of animals in medical research," taken from a now out of print edition of an anthology of essays. This is for our assignment to write a persuasive essay.

You can read on line, or you can "right-click" on the hyperlink and "save as target." This latter technique will save the .pdf file to your computer.

Here is the link: Interactions.5th-ed.ani-med.allpp.pdf

Here are some resources for our reading of the book Night, by Eliezer Wiesel:

1. Vocabulary List: Night.Vocabulary.pdf

2. Study Guide: Night.study-guide.tr.M-Wiesel.1.dst.2008.pdf

3. A Chronology of Judaism: Chron-Highlights.Judaism.doc

3. The Sacred Writings of Judaism: RabbinicWritingsofJudaism.pdf

Please click on the appropriate hyperlink(s) to view the follow items for English 84 for the Summer Semester, 2010:

Course Syllabus: Engl84.2010.Summer.syllabus.dst1.pdf

In Medias Res
By Fr. David

One of the voices that seemed eternal on  our radios — a voice unforgettably rich and resonant — was Paul Harvey. To me, Paul Harvey is a piece of Americana, joining the pantheon of symbolic figures that in a way embody this nation and its ideals: not quite to the level of mom, flag, and apple pie, but nearly. Beyond his voice was the fact that Harvey was a storyteller, par excellence. Paul had a way of setting things up, describing a person or situation filled with struggle or confronted with troubles that seemed intractable. Then, step by step, Harvey brought us “the rest of the story.” From failure erupted vindication and even success and renown. From improbable beginnings comes a person or event now well known to all, and deeply respected. Yet, before Harvey uttered that almost patented phrase — “and now, the rêst of the story…” — there was a palpable tension and perplexity. We think, “Where’s he going with this?” or “What’s he talking about?” And then, of course, Paul would lead us around the corner, so to speak, and we’d see.

I believe that this is our story, the story of our mission, here on our Silver Anniversary.

Silver Anniversary of our Mission-Parish!

On the fourth Sunday of January, 1985, it was a typical winter day in the San Joaquin Valley. In Merced, it was a bit foggy, but not too bad; visibility was actually five miles, and the temperature reached a balmy 52 degrees by mid-afternoon. However, despite appearances, something new was happening on that otherwise typical Sunday morning:

The very first public Orthodox Holy Eucharist -- the "Divine Liturgy" -- was held in Merced. The location was the good ol' Rotary Scout Hut in Applegate Park. The priest was Father Basil Rhodes, the young Rector of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga, CA; Father Basil graciously drove into the heart of the Central Valley from the Bay Area to begin this new thing: bring the ancient Christian tradition of the Orthodox Church to this place.

We are celebrating this wonderful occasion of our 25th Anniversary on May 1, 2010. Everyone is invited to join us! Please stay tuned to this website for more information.

Please click the following hyperlink to see or download our August, 2009 issue of our mission-parish's newsletter, The Proclaimer: 2009.08.newsletter.D.pdf

If you do not have a program to read this sort of file (.pdf), you may click on the button below and download the latest version of Adobe Reader for free:

Demographic Deities

A Reply to Robert L. Sharp’s “Talking about Religion”

By Fr. David Thatcher

      I found myself perplexed as I read Robert L. Sharp’s opinion piece, “Talking about Religion” (April 25, 2009). On the one hand, Mr. Sharp has enough interest in the topic of religious faith that he would bother to write about it — even “with extreme trepidation.” On the other hand, he ends his column describing himself as neither agnostic nor atheist, but rather as an apatheist – an invented word, playing off the word apathy, meaning one who does cares not about the matter of God. So, Mr. Sharp writes about religion and God, but doesn’t really care about it or people who do. How one puts these two things together with any degree of seriousness? Surely matters of God, faith, and culture are serious questions. Nevertheless, Mr. Sharp’s statements on these things are quite public, and whatever his personal journey has been, he is worthy of a response.

      Mr. Sharp’s criticisms of religion and such are, actually, cultural criticisms. He doesn’t directly address the matter of whether or not any particular religion’s beliefs are true or not, other than to cavalierly brush such aside by defining faith as beyond evidence of any kind — that it is always simply blind faith. (I’m not sure why Mr. Sharp felt the need to cite a Professor of Electrical Engineering in this; many have tried to define faith in such a manner.)

      There are two assumptions about such an approach to faith, neither of which is, in the end, defensible. First, while I am not expert on world religions, as a pastor of the Orthodox Christian Church I can assure Mr. Sharp and his authorities that Christianity in fact makes claims about truth — and wants to be judged on this basis. Faith is no mere leap in the dark; there are reasons to believe in the gospel. . . . .